Collection: Spirituality & Religion

An anthology of 423 verses spoken by the Buddha, the Dhammapada serves as the perfect compendium of his teachings for study, reflection, and contemplation. This popular edition from the Buddhist Publication Society transmits the spirit and content as well as the style of the original, skillfully combining clarity and vigor of expression with careful fidelity to the meaning.The inclusion of the Pali text gives students of Pali immediate access to the original. A long introduction by Bhikkhu Bodhi describes the structure of the Dhammapada and shows how the work embodies the essential teachings of the Buddha."Wherever [The Dhammapada] has become known its moral earnestness, realistic understanding of human life, aphoristic wisdom, and stirring message of a way to freedom from suffering has won for it the devotion and veneration of those responsive to the good and the true." from the Introduction

Some people give up, some keep going when it gets tough, and others don't know which way to turn. The calling in my life is one that I would never imagine. I am my ancestors' wildest dreams. Everyone has their own story. This is how mine unfolded.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published The History of Spiritualism in 1926, offering a thorough account of the movement which began in 1848 with the Fox Sisters, but had been brewing since long before. Doyle was one of the loudest and best-known evangelists for the religion in the early twentieth century. He, and its millions of followers, believed that we never die-we merely move on to another plane. Doyle's evidence, and the Spiritualist mediums who led the way, are all to be found within these pages. This re-publication is unabridged and maintains all of the author's British English spellings.

A classic account of the psychedelic experience

The Joyous Cosmology is Alan Watts's exploration of the insight that the consciousness-changing drugs LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin can facilitate "when accompanied with sustained philosophical reflection by a person who is in search, not of kicks, but of understanding." More than an artifact, it is both a riveting memoir of Watts's personal experiments and a profound meditation on our perennial questions about the nature of existence and the existence of the sacred.

Includes Watts's article "Psychedelics and Religious Experience"

style="font-size:20px;line-height:20px;">"Have You Forgotten? I Am Your Mother. You Are Under My Protection."

"There is a promise Holy Mother makes to us," proclaims Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, "that any soul needing comfort, vision, guidance, or strength can cry out to her, flee to her protection, and Blessed Mother will immediately arrive with veils flying. She will place us under her mantle for refuge, and give us the warmth of her most compassionate touch, and strong guidance about how to go by the soul's lights." Untie the Strong Woman is Dr. Estés invitation to come together under the shelter of The Mother--whether she appears to us as the Madonna, Our Lady of Guadalupe, or any one of her countless incarnations. In this unforgettable collection of stories, prayers, and blessings, Dr. Estés shares:

"The Drunkard and the Lady"--a story of unexpected miracles that arise from the mud and soil
- "Guadalupe is a Girl Gang Leader in Heaven"--a poem of resistance and hope
- "No One Too Bad, Too Mean, or Too Hopeless"--the fierce Mother that never gives up on us
- "The Shirt of Arrows"--a love that is invincible no matter how many times we are wounded
- "The Black Madonna"--she who stands at the juncture between two worlds and protects us as we enter the dark places
Why does the face of Our Lady appear in the most humble and unexpected places? Why does she burst forth into every culture no matter how hard authority tries to suppress her? It is because no bonds can restrain the power of her love, nor prevent her from returning to those who need her most. With Untie the Strong Woman, Dr. Estés invites you to encounter the force of Immaculate Love--"So that your memory of Her is renewed, or that the knowledge of her miraculous, fierce, enduring ways is drawn into your heart for the very first time."

Meditation is like a love affair with your innermost self. At times it can be ecstatic and entrancing, other times simple and still--and sometimes you might not even feel its profound effects until later.

Now with Meditation for the Love of It, Sally Kempton shares practical secrets to help us turn meditation into an unconditional embrace of the fullness of our experience--on and off the meditation cushion. With the gentle wisdom and compassion of one who understands the nuances of practice, she opens us to the joy of exploring the deep and mysterious inner landscape of the heart, mind, and body.

Drawing on her 40 years as a teacher and a fellow meditator, Sally teaches us how we can connect to our inner longings and creative shakti energy to allow the transformative gifts and blessings of meditation to unfold. With playfulness and devotion--two key attitudes in sustaining a daily practice--she shares indispensable guidance for this voyage of self-discovery, including:

How to tune in to your own "meditation channel," a bandwidth of tranquillity, energy, and joy
- Why you don't need a quiet mind to meditate
- How the force known as Kundalini can fuel your practice
- Connecting to your ever-present Inner Beloved to let go of conditioned ideas about yourself and make space for the True Self to come forth
- Ripening your practice beyond technique into the "sweet mysterious expanse of spontaneous meditation"
- More than 20 practices for bringing the peace and insight of meditation into your daily life
"Remember: what you seek in meditation is your own Beloved, your own inner intelligence, your own Awareness, and your own Truth," teaches Sally. Meditation for the Love of It points us back to our own intimate heart of hearts, our own deepest experience, and the bliss of existence itself.

A national bestseller and acclaimed guide to Buddhism for beginners and practitioners alike

In this simple but important volume, Stephen Batchelor reminds us that the Buddha was not a mystic who claimed privileged, esoteric knowledge of the universe, but a man who challenged us to understand the nature of anguish, let go of its origins, and bring into being a way of life that is available to us all. The concepts and practices of Buddhism, says Batchelor, are not something to believe in but something to do--and as he explains clearly and compellingly, it is a practice that we can engage in, regardless of our background or beliefs, as we live every day on the path to spiritual enlightenment.

What was life really like for everyday people in the Islamic Golden Age? In this detailed exploration of daily life in one of history's greatest civilizations, readers will use primary sources and information from archeological discoveries to discover fascinating insights and debunk popular myths. Immersive timelines, maps and references to important people and events will bring children on a time-traveling journey through the ancient Islamic world.

Talitha Cumi Secrets of the Prayer Shawl
Bishop John Francis

Revolutionize your prayer life by discovering ancient biblical truths

combined with today's revelations!

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord. When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the Lord instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do. The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God (Numbers 15:37-40).

In this new, exciting, and expanded edition of the best-selling Talitha Cumi, you will learn secrets of life-changing magnitude! Bishop John Francis takes you to overlooked passages in God's Word--key Scriptures that link the prayer shawl--the tallit--with the power of God.

You will discover:

• The tallit's significant role in prayer
• Why and how the tallit is made
• The significance of the tassels
• Why the color blue is important
• How to wear your tallit as a sanctuary
• How to become more intimate with God
• How to restore the sacredness of your prayer time
• And much more!

This exceptional book brings an ancient custom--and command--into your modern-day spiritual experience in a whole new way. Combining relevant Scripture with up-to-date and meaningful personal and worldwide knowledge, your Christian journey will be enhanced, taken to a higher level.

Bishop Francis is the founder and senior pastor of Ruach City Church--one church in several locations in London and in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Copyright (c) 2007 First Edition, Second Edition 2017 Bishop John Francis

www.johnfrancis.org.uk

Published by Sekal Publishing

all rights reserved.

New York Times bestselling author and medical intuitive Caroline Myss has found that when people don't understand their purpose in life the result can be depression, anxiety, fatigue, and eventually physical illness--in short, a spiritual malaise of epidemic proportions. Myss's experience of working with people led her to develop an insightful and ingenious process for deciphering your own Sacred Contract--or higher purpose--using a new theory of archetypes that builds on the works of Jung, Plato, and many other contemporary thinkers.

Myss examines the lives of the spiritual masters and prophets--Abraham, Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad--whose archetypal journeys illustrate the four stages of a Sacred Contract and provide clues for discovering your own. Myss explains how you can identify your particular spiritual energies, or archetypes--the gatekeepers of your higher purpose--and use them to help you find out what you are here on earth to learn and whom you are meant to meet. Exploring your Sacred Contract will shine a light on the purpose and meaning of your life. You are meant to do certain tasks, you are meant to have certain relationships.

In coming to know your archetypal companions, you also begin to see how to live your life in ways that make the best use of your personal power and lead you to fulfill your greatest--in fact, your divine--potential.

Both visionary and practical, Sacred Contracts is a bold, powerful work of spiritual wisdom. Without a doubt, your most intriguing challenge in life is to recognize your spiritual commitments and live them to the fullest.

This is an illustrated children's book on the life and legacy of the Venerable Nano Nagle, Foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this book, we imagine her spirit stepping down from heaven above, to walk us through experiences that guided her from a life of fanciful privilege to one helping improve the conditions of the poor and under-educated Catholics in Ireland in the18th Century.

Nano opened schools in secret, when teaching Catholic children, especially girls, was forbidden by law. She also sought to create an order of women religious who could reach out to help those in need, during a time when the Church hierarchy restricted nuns to working and living within the confines of convents.

With New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Hanson's four steps, you can counterbalance your brain's negativity bias and learn to hardwire happiness in only a few minutes each day.

Why is it easier to ruminate over hurt feelings than it is to bask in the warmth of being appreciated? Because your brain evolved to learn quickly from bad experiences and slowly from good ones, but you can change this.

Life isn't easy, and having a brain wired to take in the bad and ignore the good makes us worried, irritated, and stressed, instead of confident, secure, and happy. But each day is filled with opportunities to build inner strengths and Dr. Rick Hanson, an acclaimed clinical psychologist, shows what you can do to override the brain's default pessimism.

Hardwiring Happiness lays out a simple method that uses the hidden power of everyday experiences to build new neural structures full of happiness, love, confidence, and peace. You'll learn to see through the lies your brain tells you. Dr. Hanson's four steps build strengths into your brain to make contentment and a powerful sense of resilience the new normal. In just minutes a day, you can transform your brain into a refuge and power center of calm and happiness.

Moving the conversation beyond transgender inclusion to demonstrate the unique and vital theological insights transgender Christians can provide the church.

Father Shannon Kearns is familiar with liminal spaces. He's lived in them his whole life. And while his experience as a transgender man has often made it difficult for him to fit in--especially in the context of Christianity--it has also shaped his perspective in important ways on complicated, gender-transgressing aspects of theology and Scripture.

In the Margins weaves stories from Shannon's life into reflections on well-known biblical narratives--such as Jacob wrestling with the divine, Rahab and the Israelite spies, Ezekiel and the dry bones, and the transfiguration of Jesus. In each chapter, Shannon shows how stories have helped him make sense of his own identity, and how those same stories can unlock the transformative power of faith for those willing to listen with an open mind and stand alongside him in the in-between.

Although utterly convinced of the truth of Christianity, Anselm of Canterbury struggled to make sense of his religion. He considered the doctrines of faith an invitation to question, to think, and to learn; and he devoted his life to confronting and understanding the most elusive aspects of Christianity. His writings on matters such as free will, the nature of truth, and the existence of God make Anselm one of the greatest theologians and philosophers in history, and this translation provides readers with their first opportunity to read his most important works within a single volume.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Rumi's Masnavi is widely recognized as the greatest Sufi poem ever written, and has been called "the Koran in Persian." The thirteenth-century Muslim mystic Rumi composed his work for the benefit of his disciples in the Sufi order named after him, better known as the whirling dervishes. In order to convey his message of divine love and unity he threaded together entertaining stories and penetrating homilies. Drawing from folk tales as well as sacred history, Rumi's poem is often funny as well as spiritually profound.

Jawid Mojaddedi's sparkling new verse translation of Book One is consistent with the aims of the original work in presenting Rumi's most mature mystical teachings in simple and attractive rhyming couplets.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

For the nature lover, comes Soul of the Woodland.

Renowned illustrator Suzanne Joyner brings 34 calming, earthy images inspired by flora and fauna from forests around the world. Coloring pages features trees, pine cones, birds, and forest creatures illustrated by Suzy Joyner, ready for your inspired interpretation! Soul of the Woodlands includes

- Forest coloring pages
- Fall coloring pages
- Woodland coloring pages
- Trees and Flora
- Forest Creatures
- and many more!

This special Celebration Edition boasts heavy-weight, artist-grade paper that provides an unmatched coloring experience and allows for experimentation with different media.